Kramer Law Clinic - Real Practice

We are leaders in experiential education.

All of our students work to solve the client’s real-world problems. And, depending on the clinic or externship you take, your experience can include writing briefs, arguing in court, or presenting to boards of directors or organizations.

Kramer Clinic - Real Practice

Last Updated 10/15/2014 3:05:55 PM

Experiential Learning

Experience makes our law school different. We provide real lawyering experiences in a wide variety of fields throughout all three years of law school. You are not just filing paperwork and answering the phones. We make sure your opportunities are high quality. By the time you graduate from Case Western Reserve, you will have a number of real-practice experiences. Everyone works directly with clients as their primary lawyer. Everyone works to solve the client’s real-world problems. And, depending on the clinic or externship you take, your experience can include writing briefs, arguing in court, or presenting to boards of directors or organizations.

Unlike other law schools, our experiential-learning opportunities are not reserved for a select few. All students participate before graduation.

Curriculum

We give our first-year students the chance to work with real clients. We believe the best way to begin your journey as a lawyer is to experience the lawyer’s work first hand.

During their first year of law school, students work with clients through our partnerships with the courts, the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and other non-profit organizations.

During their second year and during each summer, our students can choose to enroll in an externship. These on-the-job experiences are in government agencies, non-profit organizations and in-house-counsel settings. Students work with an on-site supervisor and faculty advisor.

Our curriculum also requires an experiential capstone during the third year of law school. This is a full-time, full-semester or half-time, full year faculty-supervised practice experience designed to place you in the role of a lawyer.

Students are fully engaged in developing relationships with their clients, identifying problems, and completing the necessary legal research. Students potentially engage in presentations to boards of directors or community groups, conducting depositions, argue pre-trial motions, select juries, try cases, and write briefs and argue cases on appeal.